Communicating God’s Nonviolent Love:
Teaching & Tools
June 10-13 at Casa Iskali Campus in Des Plaines, Illinois
Here’s the Good News: God’s Love Overcomes Violence
Join us as we engage in theologically grounded conversations and discover creative and practical strategies for sharing this Good News.
We invite clergy, chaplains, teachers, theologians, community leaders, and anyone in Christian ministry who is passionate about sharing the story of God’s unconditional love, and reaching a contemporary, and perhaps unconventional, audience.
We will explore these themes during our three-day gathering. Through plenary sessions and large and small group discussions participants will leave with new tools and a renewed passion for ministering to their own communities. View information on the location and directions.
View your participation options.
Meet Our Plenary Presenters
Father James Alison
Catholic Theologian, Priest and Author
Encountering Christ: Participating and Belonging in God’s Ongoing Creation
Alison’s theological method has been described as inductive: for him, theological reflection is among those actions and practices that induct the person into a new form of belonging. For Alison, conversion to Christ and one’s engagement in theological reflection have a reciprocal relationship. In his view, authentic Christian theology, to which Alison refers to as “theology in the order of discovery“, comes from an experience of encountering Christ. Conversion for Alison refers both to the transformative encounter – “a completely unexpected and extraordinary access to Christ” – and to the subsequent ongoing process by which that access to Christ develops into a new and evolving understanding of self, God, humanity, and the whole of creation. However, it is God who is the true subject acting on, for, and toward us, thinking believers invited to participate in God’s ongoing creation.
Father James Alison earned his doctorate in theology from the Jesuit Faculty in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. A systematic theologian by training, James developed Jesus the Forgiving Victim, a program of induction into the Christian Faith for adults. He is the author of Knowing Jesus (London: SPCK 1992,8; Springfield: Templegate 1993); Raising Abel New York: Crossroad 1996 (2nd edition, updated, London: SPCK 2010) The Joy of Being Wrong (Crossroad 1998); Faith beyond resentment: fragments catholic and gay (London: Darton Longman & Todd 2001; Crossroad 2001) On being liked (DLT 2003 and Crossroad 2004). Undergoing God (DLT (London) and Continuum (New York) 2006) and Broken Hearts and New Creations: intimations of a great reversal (DLT (London) and Continuum (New York) 2010. Editions of some of James books exist in Spanish, Italian, Dutch, French, Russian and Portuguese. Some of his more recent writings can be found in a variety of languages on his U.K. website
PASTOR ADAM ERICKSEN
Clackamas United Church of Christ, Milwaukie, OR
Tools for Communicating God’s Nonviolent Love
Adam Ericksen will present tools he has used to communicate God’s nonviolent love to an ever growing audience. While we often think of social media as a necessary evil, what if social media is a good way to spread the Gospel?
Like the Roman roads were primarily used for the military, the early Christians hijacked the roads to spread the Gospel.
What if God is calling us to do the same with social media?
Podcasts, newsletters, signs, blogs, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok are the Roman roads of today, providing the opportunity to spread the Gospel message throughout the world in ways Paul could never dream of. So like good disciples, strap on your sandals, pick up your staff, and learn how to travel today’s Roman roads to share the good news. Adam will offer his experiences and examples as guides, hoping to leave you free to find the roads that reach your people best.
The world needs the Gospel now more than ever. Social media provides an important avenue to spread the message.
Adam Ericksen earned his Masters of Theological Studies from Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary then joined the Raven Foundation as Education Director. There he created a wide range of content focused on connecting mimetic theory to the nonviolence and love of God. His work ranged from blogs, to videos, to a weekly radio interview program. Even while he developed this body of work, he was the youth pastor at First Congregational Church of Wilmette. Working with those youth he observed what was important to them and honed his communication style. With his move back to Oregon in 2018, Adam became the full time pastor of Clackamas United Church of Christ. To build visibility, Adam encouraged his church to purchase a marquee letter sign where profoundly Christian yet witty sayings appear weekly, bringing him and his congregation attention from major publications like Newsweek, USA Today, Sojourners, and local television and radio stations. His children challenged him to create a TikTok channel where he now engages with individuals near and far. His visibility and messages have brought additional members to his church both in the pews and online which has encouraged the forming of unexpected partnerships designed to care for and support others in need.
Professor Julia Robinson Moore
Department of Religious Studies
University of North Carolina Charlotte
Confronting the History of Enslaved Burial Grounds Through Loving Mimesis and Brain Science
Julia Robinson Moore will present and answer questions about an intensive community interracial healing and reconciliation project she has helped bring to fruition in the city of Charlotte, NC, called the Equity in Memory and Memorial Project . Working with churches in the city which contain enslaved burial grounds, she and her husband Ricky Moore bring together the members of these churches with members of Black congregations whose ancestors are buried there–facilitating storytelling, mourning, and the preservation of these sacred spaces. An ordained Presbyterian minister as well as an academic, Julia will talk about how this work uses Rene Girard’s mimetic theory, archeology, historical records, prayer, and knowledge of trauma studies to create difficult but healing dialogue and engage in important historic preservation.
Julia Robinson Moore (Ph.D., Michigan State University) joined the Department of Religious Studies at UNC Charlotte in 2005. She teaches courses in African American religion, religions of the African Diaspora, and racial violence in America. Her first book, Race, Religion, and the Pulpit: Reverend Robert L. Bradby and the Making of Urban Detroit (2015), explores how Second Baptist Church of Detroit’s nineteenth minister became the catalyst for economic empowerment, community-building, and the formation of an urban African American working class in Detroit. Her current research project, Remembered: Enslaved Burial Grounds and the Making of the City of Charlotte, speaks to the present-day realities of enslaved cemeteries around the city of Charlotte and their connection to American Presbyterianism. In keeping with the University of North Carolina at Charlotte’s strategic mission to serve as an urban research center that benefits the city of Charlotte, the Equity in Memory and Memorial Project was conceived as a community-engaged-component of Remembered. Dr. Moore also has a third research project titled, Modern Lynchings: Mimetic Theory, Christianity, and Racial Violence in the New South, which seeks to situate race as a category of analysis within mimetic theory through the study of anti-black violence and terrorism in the New South.
BREAKOUT SESSION WITH CHAPLAIN ELLEN CORCELLA
Chaplain Ellen Corcella cares for patients and families
on the worst days of their lives. In doing this, she learned to embrace her own trauma, to let go and let God, to stop trying to fix and to offer herself as one human being to another.
She believes we are more resilient, stronger in spirit and richer in love than we credit ourselves. Her explorations of the interconnections between faith, spirit, trauma and resilience has revealed ways we can further embrace our faith and enhance our resilience;
She is an ordained minister with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), a Board Certified Chaplain with the Association of Professional Chaplains and a Spiritual Advisor for Palliative Care patients facing life limiting illnesses. She received a Masters in Divinity & Masters in Theological Studies from Christian Theological Seminary, a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center and a B.A. from George Washington University in Political Science.
Her additional training includes trauma informed clinical care from the Arizona Trauma Institute, mindfulness and meditation practices from the Center for Mind-Body Medicine, and end of life care from California State University Shiley Haynes Institute on Palliative Care.
MAGIC AND MIMETIC THEORY WITH JAMES WARREN
After years of study in psychology, philosophy, and theology, James Warren made the decision to become a professional magician. In addition to his mastery of magic, James has authored two books – Compassion Or Apocalypse?: A Comprehensible Guide to the Thought of René Girard, and Jesus and the Magician.
With over a decade of performances at Hollywood’s famous private club for magicians, The Magic Castle, James brings his magic skills to entertain in corporate settings and educate in schools. His study of magic and understanding of mimetic theory allows him to create mesmerizing magic while offering insights into human nature.
He has developed an anti-bullying school assembly program, where he stresses the difference between direct bullying (such as threatening or hitting), and indirect bullying (such as spreading rumors), and lets students know that indirect bullying is just as serious. His character education assembly program stresses the values of respect for self and others, honesty, and responsibility.
Continuing Education Units (CEUs) will be available to participants upon request.
Participation Options
Prices increase on May 15.
Resident
Lodging & Meals
Lodging: Bedrooms are private with single bed, desk, sink and comfortable chair. Rooms have pleasant views. Bathrooms are dormitory style, clean and plentiful.
Meals: Monday night dinner through Thursday breakfast
$425
Commuter
Parking plus meals – Monday dinner through Thursday breakfast
$275
Zoom Access
$110
Register Today!
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EXPLORING MIMETIC THEORY, BIBLICAL THEOLOGY, & BELOVED COMMUNITY 